Study confirms Capital Region traffic is no problem

The poor souls stuck each weeknight on the Northway might disagree, but a study released today finds the Capital Region has lower-than-average levels of traffic congestion.

The report by the Texas Transportation Institute says the number of hours lost to congestion here is on the rise, but still ranks the Capital Region low among medium-sized metropolitan areas on issues such as travel delays, excess fuel consumed because of heavy traffic, and the overall cost of congestion.

16 Responses

The problem is how the roads were designed. The entrance to the Northway (north) from Alt. Route 7 is brutal most evenings, for example. Even with no accidents, too many people slow down too much for a couple drops of rain, causing backups. Still, I can get from downtown Albany to Clifton Park before 6 p.m. most days after getting picked up at 5:15 p.m. by my carpool. You have to have alternate plans like going through waterford, or heading up the hill in Cohoes. If you’re stuck on 7, think of Route 9 or heading back onto 87 South, getting off at Route 2, and getting back on 87 North. This seems strange but it only takes about 5 minutes and keeps you moving.

I agree with Nick, the road design is the biggest factor in congestion. Having lived in Albany I used to hate that extra ten minutes of traffic every now and again. It could be a lot worse but fortunately, the state workers in Albany are among the fastest workers in the world. They leave at 5pm but are home by 4:30pm.

My comment from last week was never posted so I’m re-posting.
Now that Pollock Road has closed due to the storms on July 1, my commute between Colonie and Cohoes is terrible. Folks accustomed to taking this “back road” at rush hour are now forced to take Sparrowbush out to Rt. 9, or even worse….Rt. 7 to the Northway. Does anyone have any idea when Pollock will re-open? I can’t find one bit of info on it anywhere.

This is news? Joke. Everyone knows the rush hour congestion along 87, alt 7, 7, 787, I90, 85. CDRTC will downplay it until they get the chance to charge for road us as is being considered. Instead of pushing for mass transit, it quickly went off the table. Maybe the have lobbying$

Capitol Region traffic is no problem? My Name is Rudolf Guliani, and I…uh…am aayyy…mOhhhtivational SPEAkuh! This morning’s brainrot event was just one more example of this region’s critical traffic situation, and all who are responsible for coordinating traffic around it, and for making the utterly asinine decision to approve it for the DAYTIME deserve to be living just like that character in Chris Farley’s Saturday Night Live skit – in a van, down by the river!

As for all of you Republicans who attended that heated air orgy, I’d ask if you’d ever heard the words “Yerrr FIIIIIIRED!!!!!”, but it’s obvious you didn’t have jobs to stop you from doing so. The question of interest is why you don’t – it’s the question which the rest of us should keep in mind the next time the Red party starts picking up their country-fried guitars to make their werz-jsut-folks-like-youis campaign approach. When they’re strong enough to take us into one more war which will never, ever be over (we and future generations will always live with our history), it’s because too many hand their votes over to the candidate who will have a beer with them, and pretend to be their equal, while planning to build his next Texas ranch for himself with all that money from his weapons industry freinds. Does nobody remember Pete Townsend’s “We Won’t Get Fooled Again”?

Nick, Woody – who are you people, and where do you really live and work (if you’ve ever actually had to run our rush hour race)? The alternate route theory is preached ad naseum, as if nobody who gets ensnared in slow traffic ever considered it, or actually applied it. When you have actually spent an hour in an endless cycle of clutch-in, clutch-out, step-on-the-brake-before-idiot-who’s-peering-up-somebody’s-tailpipe-causes-you-to-become-part-of-his, then try to hold back vomiting all over your clothing, upholstry, and steering wheel, believe this – you are willing to get off at the very next exit and take your chances with whatever the roads there have in store for you. Problem is that it can actually take that long to reach said exit, and then you don’t really find relief in terms of less congested travel, and even less in time lost reaching your destination.

Just ask anybody who ever got stuck in accident traffic near the Fuller Road exit – if traffic was moving at 5-10 mph on I-90 due to an accident (or holiday shoppers, vacation traffic), it turns out to be brisk clip compared to the Fuller Road which you find yourself on, and then you’ve just doubled the distance which you need to travel in order to reach Colonie Village. Sometimes it’s that what happened on that alternate route is the actual cause of the slowdown at your exit, and then it could be the certainty that thousands of other drivers get the same idea as you on that alternate, and then compete for the same space – unless there’s flashing lights within view, it’s impossible to tell, and then it doesn’t matter because either way your day or evening is ruined, and your health further damaged.

Those who aren’t personally impacted by Capital Region traffic problems, and don’t want THEIR money spent on fixing them, will belittle the rest of us with such advice as if the practice of it ever made a true difference. This is how you discredit the grievances of the little people, and make them slink away with their issues before they can make them YOUR issues!

It’s vacation season now, but I, like everyone else who’s stuck at the office whenever it’s a good day to be outside, also lost twice their time in the commute due to traffic slowdowns in every part of I-I-90, I-87, and all of the roads which run near it! It does no good service for free speach when people like those who wrote Comment #9 can say from their ocean beach houses that there is no traffic problem in the Capital District.

I wish I had an ocean beach house! I travel throughout the region and Northeast daily for my job, and that includes hitting both AM & PM rush hours locally from many aspects (I-90; Northway; 787, 890; Thruway).

My point is, the traffic around here is definitely not as bad as other Northeast metro areas, including Hartford/Springfield; S. New Hampshire; Providence, or the lower Hudson Valley – all areas that I drive through regularly.

Can it be improved locally? Certainly. Will it be improved any time soon? Not likely, given how broke NY State is. There’s not enough $ for big projects these days. So, don’t let it get you down!

My commute would be great if people in Clifton Park would learn how to drive. I drive on Kinns rd. every day. If you aren’t driving at 60 mph, and tailgating the car in front of you, people will pull out in front of you, even if there are no cars behind you. It’s ridiculous. And most of the time, it’s a minivan!!!! Why is everyone in such a hurry that they can’t wait 5 seconds for a line of cars to drive by before pulling out into the road???? Only in Clifton Park NY!!!!!!

Reversable lanes- is it so difficult a concept? Want to get rid of Northway traffic conjestion. Create reversable lanes beginning at Exit 10 -folks could make a beeline there towards new 7 on the Northbound lane of the Northway and feed right into 787 Northbound. Why we havent done this already is beyond me. Its a simple solution for growth, utilization of pavement and moving cars. They do it in most cities – ever see how Wash D.C.’s Rock Creek parkway works, I did for many years and its a brilliant concept. But Albany will continue to be viewed as smallbany until it starts incorporating things that actually work and are proven.